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Re: E-M:/ New property rights group-Midland

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Enviro-Mich message from Larry Nooden <ldnum@umich.edu>
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This is part of an emerging and concerted push from special interests to use the economic crisis (that they and their political ilk have created) as an excuse to by bypass/overrule environmental protections.

I think it is important for conservationists and environmentalists to understand economics in general and especially the etiology of the current crisis starting with the fact that overall all of the nation's gains during the past 8 years were skimmed off by a very small number of people with great monetary/political/positional power (see e.g., Summers LH [2008, September-October] The economic agenda: Challenges facing the next president, in Harvard Magazine. pp 29-31 and elsewhere), and that still was not enough for them. I might add that the local and regional news media have been pretty weak on these topics, or we probably would not have gotten to this point in the first place.

Tourism is a major industry in Michigan, and that depends on a high-quality, scenic environment. Tourism is hurt by ramshackle development. Over a 43-year period, I have certainly witnessed great losses in our natural scenery and degradations of other facets of our environment. This is our infrastructure perhaps as much as roads, etc., and the MDEQ and MDNR play important roles in maintaining this infrastructure. I have to add that a little-known agency within MDNR, Michigan Natural Features Inventory, is very important in maintaining or even enhancing our natural features. I think we are also talking about the quality of life that may be worth even more than the tourism industry.

I see an even greater need for the League of Conservation Voters as news media decline and television shifts more to entertainment (think the message in the recent film Wall-E).

--On Tuesday, February 24, 2009 2:53 PM -0500 Abby Rubley <abby@michiganlcv.org> wrote:

This cannot be a good thing for Michigan's natural resources.  Former
State Representative, Jack Hoogendyk - the executive director of this new
organization, - received a score of 7% on the most recent Michigan League
of Conservation Voters scorecard.  His score for the previous 2
legislative sessions was 13% each year, giving him a lifetime score of
11% during his entire time in the state legislature.  To see a
description of the votes and how he voted visit -
http://www.michiganlcv.org/cms/files/MLCV%20Scorecard%202007-2008_0.pdf.


Abby Rubley
Michigan League of Conservation Voters

abby@michiganlcv.org
734.222.9650 office
517.420.6777 cell


__________________________________________________
From: Kathy & Gary Henry [mailto:gehenry@chartermi.net]
To: enviro-mich@great-lakes.net
Sent: Tue, 24 Feb 2009 14:41:56 -0500
Subject: E-M:/ New property rights group-Midland


Midland-based property rights group chooses Hoogendyk as its first
executive director

http://ourmidland.com/articles/2009/02/24/local_news/1590446.txt

     Publication of wetlands inventory maps by the state Department of
Environmental Quality in 2007 got people talking "about where our state
regulatory environment was heading" and led to CIVPRO's formation, Walker
said.

     The prepared statement Hoogendyk issued Monday describes CIVPRO as
an organization of interested or concerned individuals, businesses,
industries and the public at large.

    The CIVPRO brochure says the organization's purposes are promotion of
Michigan economic growth and reasonable regulatory processes which
protect the environment but eliminate government abuse; influencing and
supporting legislation which protects property owners and encourages
business expansion; and being a voice for property owners, large and
small, when their property is diminished or deemed unusable as a result
of a regulatory taking.




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